Residential area Lebern-Dietlimoos | Baumschlager Eberle Architekten

The concept of urbanity is one of the main reasons why be baumschlager eberle engage in the creation of architecture. They treat the urban and the natural as complementary elements of equal value in lowering the pressure on resources. In the context of the Lebern-Dietlimoos estate this entails the division of the area into individual neighbourhoods. They, in turn, form an integrated whole thanks to the network of utility systems. The three construction site sections on the estate comprise seven separate neighbourhoods on plateaus that initiate a dialogue with the topography, including its specifically urban features such as the noise pollution from the nearby motorway. This is the reason for the longitudinal blocks along Grütstraße and Moosstraße, which help to break up the sound waves. They also correspond with the tower blocks assigned to them in each of the neighbourhoods. Bearing in mind Camillo Sitte’s perception of the ancient world, the buildings of the ‘insulae’ serve as a backdrop for an open-air space that is adapted to a scale appropriate to modern use. Talking of backdrops, the architecture of the facades is invigorated by the jokingly subtle game with the symmetry. This is very well articulated by the shifting of the axes, the two opening dimensions of the windows, the colour scheme and the loggias. The observer constantly makes a mental attempt to put the facades back into perfect symmetry. That is not possible, but it provokes an unbroken sense of tension. The staggering of the windows is likewise reminiscent of earlier be baumschlager eberle buildings with their windows that really could be adjusted. In Lebern-Dietlimoos this signalling of an individual presence is turned into a more cost effective irritation of customary visual perception. Despite these changes, there is more that connects the architecture of earlier years with that of 2012 than separates it, in particular the effectiveness of the materials used and the three-dimensionality of the structures. Gert Walden